Clearing out old stuff

LiveJournal's denial of service attacks have me worried about the safety of my entries, so I've been going through and backing them up. For very old things, or for very private entries, this has often included removing them from LJ entirely.

Some of them are very personal and ranty, and I'm not 100% sure what to do with them. Part of me wants to delete them without bothering to back them up, and part of me says "Nooooooooooooooooooo, they're a part of what makes you you."

I have a similar problem with family stories. I've been feeling like they need to be told (in many cases, I'm the only living person who knows the story now), but some of them... they don't paint anyone in a good light.

Is there value in putting (or leaving) the horrible stories out there, or are some things best left unsaid?

Clearing out old stuff

LiveJournal's denial of service attacks have me worried about the safety of my entries, so I've been going through and backing them up. For very old things, or for very private entries, this has often included removing them from LJ entirely.

Some of them are very personal and ranty, and I'm not 100% sure what to do with them. Part of me wants to delete them without bothering to back them up, and part of me says "Nooooooooooooooooooo, they're a part of what makes you you."

I have a similar problem with family stories. I've been feeling like they need to be told (in many cases, I'm the only living person who knows the story now), but some of them... they don't paint anyone in a good light.

Is there value in putting (or leaving) the horrible stories out there, or are some things best left unsaid?